10 Best Pre-College Programs for High School Students
If you are a high school student, registering for a pre-college program can be a wonderful way to take college-level courses in your field, allowing you to obtain in-depth knowledge and understanding of what you will learn in college. Pre-college programs, especially highly prestigious ones offered by leading universities, will likely boost your college applications and impress admissions committees.
As part of these programs, you will further get the chance to gain skills and practical experience, enhance your theoretical knowledge, meet and collaborate with peers, undertake projects, learn presentation skills, attend social activities, and learn from professional and experienced faculty.
To help you get started, we have curated a list of the 10 best pre-college programs for high school students. Before we begin, however, take a look at some of our selection criteria.
How Have We Narrowed Down This List of Pre-College Programs?
Pre-college programs are abundant throughout the country and are offered by a large number of universities. In this list, we have included only the most popular and prestigious choices, which we narrowed down and identified using the following criteria.
Selectivity and Prestige: The pre-college programs in this list are highly prestigious due to the reputation of the university offering them. Some of these programs are also highly competitive, having acceptance rates of only 5-10%.
University Ranking: The universities whose pre-college programs we have listed are some of the top-ranking universities not only in the country but in the world. Many of these are Ivy League universities.
Cost: The list includes several free programs, although many of them include tuition and residential fees. However, most programs offer numerous scholarships and financial aid opportunities.
Course Offerings: We have included some field-specific pre-college programs (with diverse course options) that are so highly prestigious that they warrant a separate place on the list. Others are broader pre-college programs offering a variety of course offerings in multiple subject areas.
10 Best Pre-College Programs for High School Students
Subject Areas: STEM
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA
Eligibility: U.S. high school juniors with strong academic records
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in February.
Dates: June-August (6 weeks)
Cost: Free, including room and board
The MITES Summer program is a pre-college experience in which students take five intensive math, science, and humanities courses. One of these courses is a project-based elective course, with some options including architecture, electronics, genomics, machine learning, engineering design, and more. In addition to classes, students will attend lab tours, workshops, recitations, social events, trips, college preparation sessions, and meetings.
Sessions with admissions counselors are also included in the programming to provide insight into the admissions and selection process. Once the program ends, students will receive written evaluations from their instructors.
MITES is highly competitive, accepting only 3-10% of applicants.
2. Columbia University’s Summer High School Academic Program for Engineers (SHAPE) Pre-College Program
Subject Areas: STEM
Location: Columbia University, New York, NY
Eligibility: Rising high school sophomores, juniors, seniors, and recent high school graduates
Application Deadline: Priority deadline: December | Final deadline: March
Dates: July 8, 2024 - July 26, 2024 | July 29, 2024 - Aug 16, 2024
Cost: $5,500 (housing and transportation not included). Need-based scholarships are available.
Columbia University’s SHAPE is a pre-college program offering college-level project-based courses taught by Columbia’s accomplished faculty. If you are accepted into this program, you will choose a subject and attend its classes throughout the program. Courses include robotics and autonomous driving, biomedical engineering, walking robots, competitive programming, sustainable engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, data science, civil engineering, and more. Note that these courses may change each year.
The program further includes electives, workshops, college preparation, and chances to interact with existing Columbia students. Lab sessions and designated project times are included in this program too, providing practical experience to participating students.
Subject Areas: Computer science
Location: UCLA
Eligibility: High school students (9th-12th grades)
Application Deadline: Applications usually close in June.
Dates: June 24, 2024 - July 12, 2024
Cost: $3,197 (housing and transportation not included). Scholarships are available.
One of UCLA’s popular pre-college programs is the Computer Science Summer Institute (Introductory Track) in which selected students primarily focus on the UCLA Computer Science 30: Principles and Practices of Computing course. This program covers topics and concepts like functional decomposition, common control structures like loops and conditionals, and common data types like integers, strings, booleans, lists, and more.
This program features lectures covering the course syllabus, coding boot camps, lab tours, discussion sessions, seminars, homework sessions, a final exam, and a concluding hackathon. Students do not need prior programming or computer science experience to attend this program.
You can check out UCLA’s other pre-college program offerings here.
Subject Areas: Multiple: STEM, history, creative writing, philosophy, social justice, and more
Location: Stanford University, Stanford, CA / Online
Eligibility: Students in grades 8-11
Application Deadline: Applications close in March.
Dates: June 17, 2024 - June 28, 2024 (session 1) | July 8, 2024 - July 19, 2024 (session 2)
Cost: $3,050. Financial aid is available.
Stanford’s Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes offer as many as 60 courses every year, of which students can choose one to focus on throughout the pre-college sessions. Most of these courses are taught online, although some might include hands-on work and occasional meetings on campus. Courses are taught by experienced and accomplished Stanford faculty in their respective fields.
Course offerings may change every summer, but some options for 2024 include game design, innovation and entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, philosophy, equity and medicine, environmental solutions, marketing, data science, creative writing, genetics, ethnic studies, history of activism, and lots more.
Only 16 students are accepted on average in each course.
Subject Areas: STEM, arts, race, gender, psychology, medicine, law, politics, history, business, literature, and more
Location: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors aged 16-19
Application Deadline: Applications usually close in January-February.
Dates: June 23, 2024 - July 5, 2024 (session 1) | July 7, 2024 - July 19, 2024 (session 2) | July 21, 2024 - August 2, 2024 (session 3)
Cost: $5,550 + $75 application fee. Housing is included. Limited need-based aid is available.
Harvard’s Pre-College Summer Program is an intensive two-week program allowing high school students to take one college-level course. Each course has a class size of around 15 students, making this a competitive and selective program. Students can choose from nearly 30 course offerings, some of which include speech, writing and literature, business and leadership, psychology, medicine, public health, race, gender, ethics, and STEM.
Several co-curricular and extra-curricular activities are included in this program, such as college preparation workshops, essay writing sessions, panels and talks, seminars on financial aid, talent shows, arts and crafts, trips and tours (if you are on campus), and more.
Subject Areas: History, literature, architecture, STEM, psychology, drama, gender, and more
Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT
Eligibility: High school students who are at least 16 years old and will have completed their junior or senior years of high school at the start of the program
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in May-June.
Dates: May 27, 2024 - June 28, 2024 (session A) | July 1, 2024 - August 2, 2024 (session B)
Cost: Fees vary based on number of credits, housing, and additional fees.
Yale Summer Sessions for Pre-College Students allow high school students to take college-level courses and immerse themselves in them throughout the session. If selected, you will be able to participate in a maximum of two courses with small classes with an experienced faculty member or instructor.
Course offerings are varied and include African and Afro-diasporic liberation movements, global health, geographies of freedom, law, legal history, drama in diaspora, digital platforms and cultural production, archaeology, feminist and queer ethnographies, cultural anthropology, climate change, energy, and more.
You can also opt for more specific pre-college programs like the Summer Drama Program and the University Preparation for International High School Students program.
Subject Areas: Arts and media, humanities and social sciences, STEM, business, and college 101
Location: New York University, New York, NY
Eligibility: Rising/current 11th and 12th grade students
Application Deadline: January (spring) | March/June (summer) | August (fall)
Dates: July 2, 2024 - August 15, 2024 (summer) | September 2, 2024 - December 20, 2024 (fall). Spring sessions are also offered every year.
Cost: Varies based on credits
NYU’s Precollege Program is a chance for high school students to experience NYU’s campus and take a college-level course, learning from expert faculty and interacting with like-minded peers. Some course options you can consider taking include art history, comparative literature, dramatic literature, computer science, biology, English, French, economics, journalism, music, psychology, business, science, biomolecular science, nutrition, film and TV, and more.
In addition to classes in the above courses, you will also participate in College 101 workshops covering essay writing, research, and applications. Social events and activities are included in this program too. You will further receive access to NYU’s facilities and resources.
Subject Areas: Math and science
Location: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Eligibility: High school juniors who are at least 16 years old and are U.S. citizens or permanent residents
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in March.
Dates: June 22, 2024 - August 3, 2024
Cost: Free; this is a fully-funded program.
Carnegie Mellon University’s Summer Academy for Math and Science (SAMS) is a pre-college program focusing on STEM and related fields. The university’s renowned faculty will teach the program’s curriculum through classroom instruction and lectures, workshops, hands-on projects, and regular interaction with faculty and staff mentors.
SAMS takes place in two parts—a pre-program virtual session to focus on skill-building and introductions and the 6-week in-person program with courses and meetings. Students will further work on a project with supervision from faculty or graduate students. The program will conclude with a symposium where students will present their projects.
You can check out other pre-college programs at Carnegie Mellon here.
Subject Areas: Biology, natural sciences, business, literature, writing, engineering, tech, medicine, political science, psychology, visual and performing arts, and more
Location: Brown University, Providence, RI / Online
Eligibility: Students completing grades 9 to 12, ages 14 to 18 by June 16, 2024
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in May.
Dates: June 23, 2024 - July 16, 2024
Cost: Varies based on length, housing, and format. Scholarships are available.
Brown University’s Summer@Brown is one of its pre-college offerings wherein students can choose from one of Brown’s 300+ non-credit courses taught by Brown’s faculty. Over 6,000 students participate in this pre-college program every year, although each class features small sizes and greater chances of discussions and collaborations.
Course offerings for 2024 include acting and other performing arts, literature and writing, medical and health sciences, engineering and technology, biological and natural sciences, business and economics, legal studies, physical science, psychology, political science, history, social sciences, visual arts, creative arts, and others.
Students will receive a Certificate of Completion at the end of the program.
Subject Areas: Design and art
Location: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Eligibility: High school students who have completed 10th or 11th grades and are 16-18 years old
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in February.
Dates: June 29, 2024 - August 3, 2024
Cost: Residential program: $11,350 | Commuter program: $8,715. Scholarships are available.
If you are interested in design and art, consider applying to RISD’s Pre-College Residential Program to attend college-level classes, studio sessions, critiques, projects, trips and tours to art museums and studios, and more. The program is a great way to build your portfolio before you apply to colleges.
You will take three foundation courses—drawing, design, and critical studies in art. Additionally, you will choose a major and spend your time learning about it and working on projects. You can choose from course options like animation, art and activism, architecture, drawing, fashion design, art and science, ceramics, furniture design, film/video, graphic design, graphic novels, jewelry, illustration, printmaking, and textile design, among others.
Bonus: 11. Horizon Academic Research Program
Horizon offers trimester-long research programs for high school students across subject areas such as data science, machine learning, political theory, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, and more! You note that Horizon is one of the very few research programs for high school students that offers you the choice to engage in either quantitative or qualitative research! Once you select a particular subject track as well as the type of research you wish to carry out, Horizon pairs you with a professor/PhD scholar from reputed universities who act as mentors throughout your research journey. As a participant, you will be expected to develop a 20-page research paper that you can send to prestigious journals for publication as a high school student.
This program is a solid opportunity for you to pursue a research program in highly specialized fields, under the guidance of a top scholar. The program also provides a letter of recommendation for each student, as well as detailed project feedback that you can use to work on future projects. Apply here!
Location: Virtual
Application Date: May 21, 2024 for the summer cohort, and September 25, 2024 for the fall cohort
Program Dates:
Summer seminar - June 24, 2024 - September 2, 2024
Fall seminar - October 23, 2024 - February 19, 2025
Lab dates are flexible, but you must apply 4 weeks in advance.
Eligibility: High school students with good academic standing (>3.67/4.0 GPA) can apply. Most accepted students are 10th/11th graders! Only a couple of tracks require formal prerequisites, more details of which can be found here.
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a rigorous research program tailored for high school students. The program offers extensive 1-on-1 research opportunities for high school students, across a broad range of subject areas that you can explore as a high schooler.
The program pairs high-school students with Ph.D. mentors to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project. At the end of the 12-week program, you’ll have developed an independent research paper! You can choose research topics from subjects such as psychology, physics, economics, data science, computer science, engineering, chemistry, international relations, and more. You can find more details about the application here.
Application Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort. Main summer deadlines are March 15, April 15, and May 15
Duration: Options range from 12 weeks to 1 year.
Location: Remote — you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!
Eligibility:
You must be currently enrolled in high school
Students must demonstrate a high level of academic achievement. (Note. students have an unweighted GPA of 3.3 out of 4)
No previous knowledge of your field of interest is required!
Program Dates: Summer cohort runs from June to August, Fall cohort from September to December, Winter cohort from December to February, Spring from March to June
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
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